Despair You Can't Deny
by dangobabe
Summary: When something is not seen for years, it will rear its ugly head in the worst way possible. Despair is no exception. ((SYOC, currently closed))
1. Chapter 1

Despair was contagious, yet nobody acknowledged it. What a tragedy that was.

The school itself was named Hope's Peak- nobody even thought for a moment about despair. Why would they? Students of Hope had no reason to fret about such things.

Most of them, anyways.

Every bunch had one who was different, and this school was no exception. One student, heart rotten with despair, hid among the ranks. Nobody noticed at first. Externally, they looked like anyone else. Just an average student.

Oh, but they'd be sure to change that perception- starting with their own class.

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Hi! I'm dangobabe, or Sachi. I'm hoping to write my first SYOC here! Just fill out this form, and PM me! Please do not post it in the reviews! Thank you so much, and I hope to see you here!

Just a quick note- I really have a thing for dark secrets, so this story may end up containing more triggering content than most. Just a warning to you all, and an invitation to go wild in that regard!

**Name:**

**Age:**

**Weight:**

**Gender and pronouns:**

**Height:**

**SHSL:**

**Sexuality:**

**Ethnicity:**

**Appearance:**

**Personality:**

**Family:**

**Clothing:**

**Prefecture (or, if they are not Japanese, country) of birth:**

**Where do they live now?:**

**Secrets:**

**Motive for mastermind: **(optional!)

**Mastermind outfit: **(also optional, but if you fill motive in, please fill this one as well!)

**Backstory:**

**Anything else?:**

Good luck, everyone!


	2. First Four

_**Hey everyone!**_

_**Sorry for that wait. I got into a small car accident on September 1st, and even though I wasn't hurt and everybody else was perfectly fine, my car is pretty much toast, and the stress of that kind of sucked all my creativity out of me. I can't say I'm too pleased with this one, but I gave it my best!**_

_**Also, I'd just like to apologize for any grammatical errors. English is not my first language (Japanese is), and even though I'd like to say I'm pretty fluent, I still make a mistake now and then. Sorry for that!**_

_**Anyways, I'll be introducing these characters in groups of four. Given my current situation, that's much easier than trying to squeeze everyone into one chapter. I hope that's alright with you guys.**_

**_Enough with me- Let's get this story going!_**

"Now now, wake up, sleepyheads! It's the first day of your brand-new life- isn't it so exciting? Be nice to each other, okay?"

The gentle, but uncomfortably loud voice from a loudspeaker booms through the room. It's a plain room- maybe it was a classroom at some point? The blackboard on the side of the wall- on which "Welcome!" is written- only fuels this suspicion.

No time for that, though. Mundane theories like that are the last thing on their minds right now. Oh, right- I don't think I mentioned who 'they' are! Well, I direct you to look down. On each one of the four white walls, a sleeping adolescent is propped up like a doll. This announcement from the loudspeaker, positioned on the roof, causes them each to stir. As they start to regain coherent thoughts, they can only wonder what on earth has happened to put them in such a position.

"... Hello?"

The girl with light brown hair on the north wall (not that any of these children knew, nor cared about, the wall's direction) was the first to speak. Her simple question shattered the silence, and although she had a timid, quiet tone, it still felt impossibly loud compared to the empty silence that previously took up residence in this strange, empty room.

The first response to this statement is the click of a camera.

The three heads whip around to the girl on the west wall. She's wearing a black sailor uniform, the red ribbon on the uniform matching the camera case that's slung across her body. She's holding up a camera, taking a few pictures of the pigtailed girl. The subject of this impromptu photoshoot instantly squeaks and brings her arms up to cover her face, shrinking away from the camera. "W-What are you doing?!"

The camera-wielding girl stopped taking pictures. Popping her head out from behind the camera, she grinned, revealing two sharp little canines and deep brown eyes.

"Duh, taking pictures! Don't you know how much photos of you sell for in gentlemen's magazines? I wonder why they call them that. It certainly isn't gentlemen who read 'em!"

The girl's shoulder length black hair bounced a bit as she bent her neck to inspect her camera. "Oh, a panty shot! Man, there's my ticket to those shoes I've hade my eye on. God bless you, flight attendants and your short little skirts!"

The pigtailed girl went beet-red, seemingly unaware of her hiked up orange pleated skirt. Slamming her legs shut, she turned to the black haired girl with a look of panic. "P-Pervert! Don't do that! H-How do you know who I am?!"

The other girl blinked, cocking an eyebrow before letting her face shift into a grin. She snorted in laughter, shifting to let her short pleated skirt move up a bit, showing off the top of her black thigh highs.

"Well, duh! Anyone in the business knows who you are. Shizuka Yamaguchi, Super High School Level Flight Attendant, and hottest legs in the sky, depending on who you ask."

A male voice from the other side of the room spoke up before Shizuka could respond. On the east wall, a young man sat, seemingly calm through this strange little exchange.

"You know who she is, but what about you?"

The seifuku clad girl stopped messing with Shizuka to look over at him, perplexed.

"I'm Kanon Akayama. Super High School Paparazzo, in case the camera didn't tip you off." She lifted the expensive looking camera slightly. "Who're you?"

The blue eyed boy's face briefly flickered into a small smile for his introduction, before contorting back into a blank expression. "My name is Émile Bellerose."

Silence again. Kanon drummed her nails against the ground before sighing.

"Okay then. Berose-san."

"Bellerose."

"Whatever, I don't really care for pronouncing foreigners names. 'L' is such a bullshit letter, can't you just have pronounceable names? All of you think you're so fancy and shit..."

Kanon noticeably stumbled to pronounce the one L. "Anyways. Do y'got a talent or anything? Kinda seems like a trend in here."

If Émile was insulted by Kanon, he didn't show it, simply replying to her last question. "Super High School Level Con Artist."

"Huh, didn't think Hope's Peak accepted things like that. Whatever, guess they're lowering their standards! Anyways, your turn!" Kanon, shifting her upper body to the side a bit, pointing to the final person in the room, who had been quietly observing the activity. She was another girl, with a cute round face that was emphasized by her hairbun. She shifted a bit before replying.

"My name is Hisoka Maki, and I'm a Super High School Level Magician. It's nice to meet you all."

Kanon blinked once before shrugging, and bringing her camera up again to take a picture. "I've heard your name before, but I can't say I'm familiar with the face. Whatever, it'll win me a few bucks, even though you do look like you just woke up. Can't really fault you for that, considering we all did, but look at those bags!"

Hisoka cringed a little at the remark towards the bags under her eyes, but it didn't seem like she was too sure about speaking up about Kanon's crass behaviour. Instead, she tried to change the subject. "Well... Does anyone know where we are?"

Although it seemed that Émile and Shizuka had thought about it, Kanon seemed to be considering this prospect for the first time. Before the outspoken paparazzo could say anything, Émile started talking. A small sigh of relief could be heard from Shizuka.

"I can't say I do, unfortunately. Give our titles, if I had to harbour a guess, I'd say we were within the walls of Hope's Peak Academy. Though, it doesn't look as I'd expected."

It really didn't. Sure, it wasn't like the room was teeming with rats and filth or anything. It was actually clean, almost disturbingly so, like somebody had scrubbed it down with a toothbrush. Not a single speck of dust to be found. Shizuka seemed to be a little disturbed by this, bringing her knees up to her chest while eyeing the floor suspiciously.

"H-Huh, yeah... Do you think we should leave?"

She extended one arm out in a point. Nobody had really paid much attention to the door besides Hisoka. It didn't seem to have a handle, and the white allowed it to blend in almost completely with the wall. If there wasn't a visible outline and depth difference, perhaps nobody would have noticed it at all.

As if on cue, there was a clicking noise from the door. It slid open with a loud bang, causing Hisoka to startle a bit from her position on the wall. She regained her composure rather quickly, and leaned to it a bit to peer inside.

It was a dimly lit grey hallway, with many doors on each side of it. At the end of the hall, there was a large, towering door that looked as if it was eloquently decorated- although, from such a distance and with the dim lighting of the dingy hall, it was a little hard to make out details.

Looking back at the rest of them, Hisoka noticed that Kanon had already gotten up, brushing non-existent dirt off her skirt. "Well, I'm leaving. You guys comin' with me or no?"

Émile shrugged and got to his feet, brushing his shoulder length blond hair behind one ear. "I suppose I'll be leaving as well. Are either of you lovely ladies coming?"

Hisoka seemed to be contemplating it, but got onto her feet within a few seconds. "Would you like to come, Shizuka-san? I don't think we should leave you here alone!"

Shizuka tensed before standing up, and hurrying over besides Hisoka. High heels clicked on the floor as she tried to subtly scoot away from Kanon, actually grabbing Hisoka's hand and staying close to her. The magician seemed a bit surprised at first, but it didn't seem like it would prove to be an issue (honestly, she didn't want to be all that close to Kanon right now either). Thin lips smiling gently, she turned to Émile, trying not to focus on Kanon's irritated huff from behind her. "Should we go now?"

He nodded politely, stepping aside. "Ladies first."

And with that, the group was off, stepping into the curious little hallway, and into their new life.

Although, they didn't know it yet. Let's not spoil their surprise.

**_Well, although it was a bit short, I hope you all liked it!_**

**_One last thing- and this is kind of embarassing!- I forgot who I had reserved that last slot for. If that was you, could you please message me? Thank you all and I hope to see you soon!_**

**_Sachi_**


	3. Second Four

_**Hi again! Thank you all for your kind words and reviews! I'll answer one in particular, and then address a question that appeared a few times.**_

_** Awesome D.T: Thanks so much! And yes, I am. I lived in Aichi until I was about seven, and now I'm here in Canada! I can feel my Japanese leaving me a little, though, haha, I've been speaking primarily English for so long!**_

_**And to answer the protagonist question: I picked them out! However, I'm trying to introduce everyone from a neutral perspective. Once we've met everyone, I'll most likely switch perspectives. If you don't think that's a great idea, please just shoot me off a message! I write this for you guys, so I want to keep everybody happy :)**_

_**So, let's start!**_

Another room, another four sleepy students. The same voice from the loudspeakers had been broadcast to every room in the long hallway, so this group was waking up at the same time our previous little rag-tag group was. Once again, they were all propped up like little dolls, except for one girl with long black hair, and a sparkly blue scrunchie pulling one section up into a side ponytail. She was lying on her stomach, snoring like a truck. It seemed that she'd fallen over in her sleep, landing rather ungracefully. Not that it seemed to bother her.

In fact, even as the other three started waking up with the voice, this girl just refused to wake up. Her purple hoodie was riding up at the back, showing off a lot of skin that rose and fell as she snored.

The three who had heard their little wake up call all looked a little surprised at how such a tiny girl could snore so loudly! One boy, a handsome blond with shaggy hair, snickered a little.

"Wow, she sounds like a bear going through a wood chipper." Grinning a little, his blue eyes seemed to light up as he developed an idea. Bringing his arms up, his sleeveless white overcoat shifted a bit as he cupped his hands around his mouth. This allowed his shout of "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!" to be amplified enough to not only wake the girl, but cause the two remaining (and equally puzzled) students to flinch a bit.

The sleepy girl shot up like a mousetrap, sputtering and whipping her head from side to side. Seeing that she'd been woken up by a seemingly innocent group, she laughed and wiped the drool from her mouth onto her sweater sleeve.

"Haha, I'm up! Like, do I know you? I don't think I know you! The name's Ai Suzuki! Sorry dollies, was I snoring? Oh em gee, I snore alllll the time! Do you wanna know why?"

This girl had a squeaky voice that radiated a sickly amount of sugar.

"No, I don't think we do." The other girl in the room piped up, red eyes narrowing at Ai.

Ai completely ignored her, however. "Great, I know you guys wanna hear this! Anyways, when I was like, six or whatevs, my daddy got my big brother a pogo stick for his birthday! It was lame though, because he asked for a puppy. But he went out and tried the pogo stick, and he fell on the driveway and broke his arm! And daddy felt soooo bad that while my brother was getting his cast on, daddy went to buy him a puppy!"

Ai picked carelessly at her black nylon tights as she rambled on about this. The blonde boy, the other boy in the room, and the red eyed girl, clad in a pretty kimono that hung off her shoulders, exchanged glances of confusion and befuddled amusement.

Ai carried on. "Then, when my brother saw the puppy, he threw his arm open to give the puppy a hug, and BLAMMO! Hit me right in the nose with his cast, and broke my nose! So while I was in the hospital getting that fixed, my brother tried to make my dad feel better by playing on the pogo stick, but now because he had a cast on, he was clumsier than ever, and he fell again. He didn't break anything, though! But he did put a seven-inch scratch on my mom's new car."

There was a awkwardly long silence as Ai stared expectantly at the others. The boy who hadn't yet spoken, a young man in a purple button up shirt, cocked an eyebrow- the eyebrow that wasn't covered by his hair, of course, which draped over one eye. "Ah, sorry, but what does that have to do with your snoring?"

Ai looked perplexed at him for a moment, before a metaphorical lightbulb went off.

"Oooooh! Well, that's in the conclusion of Broken Arm Birthday, or as my daddy calls it, Arm-Swear-Swear-Nose-Swear-Swear Birthday. The puppy is an old and mean dog now, we sold that car with the scratch still on it, the pogo stick remains unseen except for the eight times it's gone unsold at garage sales, and my nose still makes a noise like a garbage disposal when I sleep!" Ai beamed, obviously quite proud of that story.

"Well, uh, great that it all worked out in the end, right?" The blond boy chucked, adjusting the waist of his dark blue jeans a bit. "Hey, the names' Antonio Facciato, by the way. Nice t'meet you, Ai-chan! You know, this is kind of weird. I was supposed to be in... Oh, what was it again?"

He scratched his chin for a moment before his blue eyes lit up, and he slapped his fist into his palm. "Right, right! Hope's Peak Academy. You guys know of it?"

The two who's names remained temporarily unknown both looked surprised. But before either could say anything, Ai let loose an ear-piercing shriek that made everyone else flinch- except for Antonio, who merely looked puzzled.

"No waaaaay! I was supposed to be there too! I'm a SHSL Cheerleader!"

Ai made a few pompom-shaking movements with her hands, making Antonio smile.

"Somehow, I could tell you were something like that. I'm a SHSL DJ, by the way."

"So that's why her harpy screech just now didn't startle you?" The kimono clad girl raised an eyebrow at Antonio, who nodded.

"You got it. I'm kinda conditioned to loud noises now. Hey, what about you? D'you have a title? Or a name, for that matter?"

Although he was joking, she rolled her maroon eyes. "Of course I do. My name is Atsuko Yahagi, and I'm a SHSL Mercenary."

The boy in the purple shirt looked a bit surprised. "They accept such talents?"

Atsuko huffed. "They always ask that. I'm a retired mercenary, if you must know. Hope's Peak accepted me due to my work of helping the police CATCH currently active mercenaries. They made me keep that title. It's a scarlet letter, really. My punishment for not taking any jail time, I suppose." Reaching up to tighten her red side ponytail, she looked over at the boy who'd posed the question. "And you? You certainly bear both a name and title- not like everyone in this room would know such an obvious thing." She shot a glare at Antonio, who tried to indicate that he had been joking. Regardless, she ignored him, and turned back to the subject of her questioning.

"Ah, right! My name is Jun Heng, and I'm a SHSL Acupuncture Therapist." Jun was about to explain further, when Ai cut in.

"Acupuncture? Like, what's that? My mom needed a therapist after she pushed the maid down the stairs, but what's acupuncture?"

Blinking a little at Ai's... Odd little statement, he continued. "Well, I understand that it's become pretty well known globally, but it started in China. In a nutshell, it's penetrating key points on the body with thin needles to help the energy flow."

Ai cocked her head, a bit like a confused puppy. "Needles? Like, needles are scary, but I'll take your word for it, magic needle guy!" She stuck out her tongue and saluted playfully at Jun, who laughed a little.

That's when Antonio puckered his lips in a humorous sort of thinking face. "Hmm, something's up here. We were all headed to Hope's Peak, right? And now we're here, waking up in a creepy-clean room. It's like a bad joke. An acupuncturist, a DJ, a mercenary and a cheerleader wake up in a room..."

Although Jun giggled a little, and Atsuko even smiled at it, Ai went into a huge, high pitched laughter fit.

"Heeheeheeheehee, it's like that joke with the horse! The horse joke!"

Nobody had any idea what she was talking about, but all three were quickly discovering that it was best to just smile and nod politely at everything Ai said. Atsuko then spoke up.

"Well, if there's no visible exit, then what are we to do? Stay in this strange place?" She pursed her lips tightly. Ai interjected, waggling a bony finger at Atsuko.

"Nuh uh, Atsu-chan! There's a door next to Ju-kun. Ai-chan has smart eyes, so she saw!" Turning into a more babyish tone, Ai shortened both Atsuko and Jun's names, to their respective displeasure and befuddlement. "Ai-chan's smart eyes also let her see that you tied your obi at the front! Is Atsu-chan a hooker?"

Jun blinked, trying to keep up with the chatty cheerleader. Antonio stiffled a laugh, covering his mouth with his hand. Both of them watched as Atsuko went as red as her hair.

"H-How dare you! I'm no simple harlot, you airheaded brat! It's simply a fashion choice- some women prefer to stick to traditional fashion with small twists, rather than show off their ass like you!"

It wasn't exactly true. While Ai's little pencil skirt was certainly on the short side, the nylons made it a bit more modest. While Ai stared at Atsuko, seeming more confused than anything, Jun decided to intervene.

"Hey, let's not fight, okay? We should try focusing on getting out. Arguing wont help any of us."

Antonio nodded from his wall. "Ditto. Anyone wanna try opening that door, I would, but..."

He reached out towards it, like he was trying to open it with his mind. Dropping his arm, he smiled goofily back at the placidly-smiling Ai and the fuming Atsuko.

Just then, the door clicked loudly before creaking and sliding open.

"Oh em gee, Anto-kun has the force! He's dark hater!" Came Ai's shout.

"It's Darth Vader, you idiot, and he doesn't have the force!" Followed Atsuko's sharp tone.

"Guys..." Jun moaned, looking over to Antonio for support. But the tennis-shoe wearing DJ wasn't looking at the acupuncturist, instead leaning off his wall a bit to stare out the door.

"Haha, dude, it's dark in there. You guys going? It's getting stuffy in here."

"I'm coming! Ai-chan and Anto-kun are going on an adventure! Will Ju-kun and Atsu-chan join our daunting crew?" Despite wearing black pumps, Ai jumped to her feet, skipping around a bit.

"I guess I'll come along then!" Jun smiled, getting up, and letting his brown eyes drift to Antonio's neck. "Those are... headphones?"

Antonio looked down (sort of- after all, it's hard to see things hanging around your neck) to the big black headphones that were gracing his neck. He nodded. "You got it. Why d'you ask?"

Jun's face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. "I've never seen them before!"

Antonio actually looked startled. "Wait, you've never seen headphones before? Dude, they're everywhere!"

The black haired boy was studying them carefully, looking awed at every wire and curve. "Oh, my family was very traditional. It's really a rare treat to see more modern things."

The DJ couldn't help but laugh a little. "Hey, once this weird little situation is all sorted out, you can listen to some music with them. How does that sound?"

Despite being an older teenager, the stunned excitement on Jun's face really did rival that of a puppy playing with a new toy. "You're serious? Thank you! It'll be so nice to see what commoners do in their spare time."

Before Antonio could begin to comment on that, Ai's voice halted all other conversation. "Atsu-chan, Atsu-chan! We're ponytail twins! Except mine is, like, a lock of my hair, and yours is all of your hair, but we're twins! Come with Ai-chan on an adventure!"

The cheerleader was skipping in a line, back and forth, both the hair that was let down and the little ponytail bouncing wildly, in front of Atsuko. The mercenary looked like she was about to snap, her pale skin going unusually red.

Figuring that it would be best to stop this before someone started ripping out someone else's hair, Jun cleared his throat. "Come on, Yahagi-san, it'll be better than sitting in this room, right?"

"Yeah, Atsu-chan! You should totally come along!" Ai smiled and skipped over to the two boys, patiently waiting on the mercenary.

Groaning, Atsuko got up. For the first time, everybody noticed her shoes under her kimono- huge tengu geta that, when she walked over, boosted her up to the same height as Jun.

However, because nobody wanted to lose an eyeball (Atsuko's fingernails were noticeably sharpened at the ends), nobody commented on her shoes. Ai almost did, but for her own safety, Antonio clapped a hand over her mouth. Not that the black haired girl seemed to mind much. She seemed content with just about everything.

Now that our second group of brilliant students has started the voyage out, should we see what sort of fate, be it bitter or sweet, shall befall them?

No, of course not. That would be too easy! Let's see what the students one room over are doing.

_**Just for the record, an obi tied at the front has historically signaled a prostitute in Japan. Haha, Atsuko is a strange one.**_

_**This is totally off-topic, but can I just say that I love looking at where you all are from on the traffic chart? It's so cool seeing that I have visitors from all around the world! Shout out to my American, Indonesian and Australian readers, you guys make up the top three countries that view this story the most! Shout out to the one reader from Honduras, as well!**_

_**I loved writing this chapter! I felt like the characters meshed well together. I hope the next one turns out well! Please leave a review if you can find the time, I adore reading them!**_


	4. Third Four

_**Hi! Thank you all for the kind reviews! I really like that people are interested in Japan! **__**ありがとうございます**__**!**_

**_Hopefully that text shows up. I'm not sure if Fanfiction can upload hiragana? Well, no matter what, thank you all from the bottom of my heart! This story is so much fun to write, especially to such a receptive audience! _**

**_I tried to take some of your concerns into mind, and worked harder on the character descriptions. Hopefully they don't seem too out of place in my writing style! _**

Again, a room over, the loudspeaker was waking up a group of four.

This room was in a little bit of disrepair, nothing major, but still very different from the spotless rooms we looked at before. A light bulb on the high ceiling was flickering, and the walls looked a little bit dingy. The chalkboard on the wall had no words on it, much less any welcoming ones, and the chalk had fallen off the little grey shelf. It was lying on the floor, broken, next to a boy with fluffy black hair. This boy, more than anyone we've seen so far, sent out an aura of foreboding. His sleeveless white dress shirt and black cravat gave him a Victorian feel, though the jeans and converse he wore contrasted in a quirky way. He seemed to have been the first to wake up, and his pale brown eyes were scanning the other three.

They say that sometimes people wake up because they can sense that they're being looked at (try not to think about that when you wake up at two in the morning to a dark room). This seemed to be the case here, as the other three startled awake quickly.

The first to do anything besides blinking themselves awake was a young woman, decked out in a tropical print sarong dress. She looked like she'd walked straight out of an old issue of Egg magazine. Her hair was teased up into sujimori, bleached blonde with cheap neon pink highlights, and stiff looking, with an absurd amount of bright, cheap plastic bangles lining her arms. The heavy white circles that went around both eyes, white stripe down the nose and her thick white lipstick made her look like she was an inverted colour scheme- white lips, and a heavily tanned body.

Her first course of action was to squint at the person directly across from her. Her huge fake eyelashes narrowed in on the boy, who looked as though he was staring her down as well. With his own bleach blond hair, they might have had something in common. That's when the girl's blue eyes widened, and her white lips grew into a huge smile, showing off some slightly crooked teeth.

"Wait, are you really who I think you are?" The girl's orange lei shifted as she leaned forward. "Oh my god, Nori Kawano?"

Stretching his arms out to get rid of those early morning cricks, the boy gave her a million-dollar smile. "Yep, that would be me! SHSL Rock Star, at your service."

It was easy to see that he had a talent like that. His single black fingerless glove and ripped up jeans certainly tipped most people off. If that still wasn't enough, the long sleeved white shirt he wore under his black sleeveless jacket actually said "RockStar!".

"No way, my sister's a huge fan! She went to see you in concert last year," The tanned girl smiled again. "Oh, my name is Kokona Sato, by the way. Notthatitmatters. Funny, I'm an SHSL Veterinarian. Two titles in one room."

Nori smiled at her again, nodding as she spoke, and choosing to ignore the strange little comment she mumbled under her breath. "Sweet. I can probably give her a call sometime, if you think she'd like that! But..." Fiddling around in his back pocket, he bit his lip. "Yep, my phones' gone. Once we get out of wherever this is, I'll do that. Anyone know where we are?"

Kokona brought a finger up to her chin- actually, it was more of a nail than a finger. Her nails were longer than her fingers, decorated with jewels and little plastic anime characters, the sheer amount of things on her (hopefully fake) nails making them almost totally unusable. "Actually, no. I'm not sure! Do yooooooouuuuu..."

She pointed a nail towards the boy who'd been the first to wake up. Kokona had started trailing off after she got a look at who she was pointing at. It didn't really seem like she wanted to interact with him at all- he did, after all, send off a kind of spooky aura. However, because she couldn't exactly turn and point to the last person in the room- a pretty girl with gradient blue hair- so she widened her grin to an awkward level and tried to finish it off.

"-uuuuu know where we are? And, uh, how about your name while we're at it?"

The boy blinked at Kokona before looking down at his feet. "Sakka Shiriaru. Not that you asked, but I'm an SHSL Novelist." Sakka's pale skin was close in shade to the wall, letting him almost blend in while Kokona stood out. The tanned girl frowned, her lip ring moving with the frown.

"Well. Alright. Nice to meet you, Shiriaru-san!"

"I'm sure."

Pouting a bit, Kokona looked to the last person. The girl's hair, put into a waterfall braid, started off darker blue and slowly turned lighter. The tips were almost an icy blue, making her hair a colour scheme that contrasted nicely with her dark eyes. While nowhere near as tanned as Kokona, the young woman had a lightly tanned skin tone, seen on her face and on the skin visible past her violet sleeveless blouse and baby blue suspender skirt. Looking up at Kokona, her lips curved into a gentle smile.

"Name and title, I guess? I'm Mizunashi Tsukiyama, SHSL Luck. It's really nice to meet you all."

"Luck?" Nori piped up, a slightly confused look on his face. "Is that a talent Hope's Peak measures?"

"In it's own way," Mizunashi nodded. "They hold a lottery that enters the name of every high school student in Japan, and whoever gets picked gets a scholarship to Hope's Peak under that very title. And I was chosen this year." She looked very happy about it, soft face smiling brightly.

Kokona giggled gleefully, clapping her hands and letting the bangles clink together. "Wow, that's great! It's lucky for us, too- lucky that a cute girl won it!"

Before anyone could reply to that statement, there was a loud clicking noise from the door. Nobody here seemed to have noticed the white shape beside Nori, and everyone startled a bit when it started to stir. It creaked once, and-

Didn't open.

It stopped for a minute, before creaking again, and shifting from side to side. Still, it didn't open. It kept alternating between creaking, shifting, and trying to open up, but the door just didn't seem like it was going to move past that.

Because watching the door have a temper tantrum was only entertaining for so long, Nori turned away from it first. "Haha, but Sato-san is right about that. I like the hair, especially. We're like, what, the dyed hair club over here? Shiriaru-san can be an honorary member." Nori smiled at Sakka, who merely blinked as the rock star continued. "It'll be like a kids' book where some random club goes and solves mysteries or whatever. I call being the title character!"

Mizunashi giggled. "I'd like to think I'm good at investigating things. I say we make a fine club already."

"Mizunashi-chan is right!" Kokona interjected. "And, even if he's kind of honorary, Sakka-kun is probably the brooding member who eventually saves us all, and then really becomes part of the team! He reminds me of that one guy in Sherlock... Watts? Walters? I can't remember, but I think he'd make a good one-of-those!"

Sakka seemed completely uninterested, picking at his fingernails, but just the smallest hint of a smile could be seen on his face.

Just then, the malfunctioning door finally decided to get its act together. With a triumphant screech that made everyone cover their ears (with the exception of Sakka, who just wasn't one to be phased by this), the door opened up, leading into a hallway we've seen twice already.

To these kids, though, it was big news. Kokona hopped up right away, one of her gold gladiator sandals almost falling up her feet. She was hopping up and down, and the strange amount of bangles crashing together sounded almost like some strange sort of music.

"Oh, thank goodness! I really need to pee. I didn't tell you guys, though, because that would have been weird."

Ignoring that she had literally just told all of them about her little bladder emergency, Kokona shot out of the room, leaving the smell of hairspray behind her.

Nori laughed, knocking his head back across the wall. "Aha, she's great." Looking over at Mizunashi, he grinned, getting up and extending a hand. "You coming too? I think we'll be a good team, all of us."

The lucky student blinked once before smiling, and accepting the hand gracefully. Now that she was standing upright, her black cat stockings could be seen, as well as her pretty violet ankle boots. As she got to her feet, though, her face morphed into a small frown. "Kawano-san, are you sure this will be safe? I mean... I'm a little concerned. I just don't know why I was asleep, or why I- or anyone else- ended up in this room."

Nori blinked for a minute, his own face going blank before he smiled again. Grabbing Mizunashi's other hand, he held them both together as she blinked, a faint pink on her cheeks.

"Don't you worry a bit, Tsukiyama-san. We're the dyed hair mystery club, right? We'll be fine!"

His energetic (though slightly naive) solution seemed to pacify Mizunashi a bit, and her smile returned. "Well, I guess. Are you coming, Shiriaru-san?"

Nori and Mizunashi both turned to the novelist- to find him gone from his spot on the wall. Nori puffed one cheek out. "Guess he made like a banana and spilt while we were distracted. Looks like it's just us!" Turning back to the blue haired girl, Nori let go of one of her hands, squeezing the other one twice. "You ready to go?"

Mizunashi shrugged playfully. "Ah, as ready as I'll ever be!"

And with that, our intrepid group has set out of the room. Will they return to it? What awaits them outside?

It's not going to be that easy, of course. What are the students in the next room up to?

_**Writing a ganguro girl like Kokona was so much fun! I was too young for the ganguro/gyaru boom in Japan, but I really love it now. Too bad the really outrageous ganguros have gone out of fashion, and would look awfully strange here in Canada!**_

_**Sujimori- Big hair worn by ganguro girls. Give it a Google, it's really incredible!**_

_**As per usual, please review, and if you have any concerns, please PM me! **_**_では、また_****_! _**


	5. Fourth Four

**Hi! Sorry for that wait, life got pretty stressful out of nowhere, haha. It was also Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend, so I was out with my family. Hoooowever, I'm back now! I can't say I'm totally happy with how this turned out, but I think it's good enough. So let's hope I'm right!**

The second last room was a bit of a special circumstance. It was quite normal, though, much like the room we just saw, slightly dingy. While two members of the room were peacefully asleep as they were meant to be, the other two were not only well-awake, but at each others throats. Literally.

They were two boys. The one that was holding the upper hand had long white hair that fell down to his waist, partially concealing the white lab coat that he wore over a green sweater. His hands were wrapped around the other boy's throat.

Needless to say, this wasn't exactly the most welcoming wake-up for the two female residents. Both of them stared at the fight for a minute, not really processing it, until the girl with lilac hair started tearing up, big magenta eyes filling up with tears.

Getting to her geta-clad feet, she ran over to the two boys, desperately trying to push herself between them.

"P-Please, stop fighting!" She cried out, thin arms obviously not enough to stop either of them from doing anything.

The announcement rang out again, but it went unheard in the chaos of the room. The final female resident, surprisingly, was seemingly unaffected by the disaster unfolding in front of her. Calculating brown eyes merely looked them all over, taking in the scene. She was the first to speak, not counting the other girl's desperate cries for the violence to end.

"I recommend that you stop now. I can't see this situation ending positively for any of us. You'll take your hands off his neck at once, and you'll back up." Her calm voice had an effect on the other three.

Although the boy doing the choking didn't seem eager to stop, he did, retracting his arms and sighing.

"Hm, pardon me. I should have spoken to him first before resorting to this violence; in fact, I'll do so now." A predatory smile curved onto his lips. "Ah, Mint Ayuki, I see we're together again. A pleasure to see you after all these years!"

The other boy, apparently called Mint, was gasping for air. But that didn't stop the snarl. "Vile beast..!"

His assailant merely shrugged. "If you say so. You're lucky for your little friend over there, I would have had you dead otherwise."

"What are you talking about?" Once again, heads turned to the purple haired girl. All signs of emotional distress and tears were washed away- it was like they never existed at all. Instead, she was just staring at them questionably. She was a gorgeous girl, possessing an almost doll-like beauty. She wore a strapless kimono-inspired dress, showing off pale shoulders. The sleeves draped down elegantly around her form, and the lolita style skirt puffed out, only to end around the knees. The fox mask that sat elegantly on the top of her head like a mask didn't cover her gorgeous face, luckily, though it did cover a bit of the long purple hair that twisted off into elaborate braids.

She cocked her head. "Do you know him?"

It wasn't directed to either boy in particular, but the one who was still gasping for breath (much to the amusement of his white-haired attacker) answered it.

"You could say... that, I suppose," He said, having to pause midway through to inhale deeply. "Funny that we... Met again here."

The purple haired girl sighed, turning to walk back and lean against the wall she'd been sleeping against shortly beforehand. "I doubt we're getting an answer about that, so I suppose we can just leave it be." She scanned the three others briefly before her face grew a happy smile, showing off her cute, youthful features in more detail. "So, let's try to get to know each other! My name is Chitanda Ito!"

The other girl cocked her head, face still unreadable. "I thought I recognized you. You're an actress, correct?"

Chitanda smiled, nodding cheerfully. "You're right! I act in plays, mostly, but I still recently netted a Super High School Level Actress title!"

The white haired boy interjected this time. "An SHSL? How strange, I bear a similar title. Not an actress, of course, but a Super High School Level Cosmologist. My name is Castor Grey Pollux, by the way. I believe I neglected to answer that."

He became surprisingly talkative, lightening up in the same way Chitanda just had. It was odd, considering that he'd been trying to choke a boy to death minutes before.

The other girl seemed to find this strange too, as she scrunched up her face a bit. She didn't have the same captivating beauty that Chitanda did, but she was still a pretty girl in her own right. Her dark brown hair, tied into a ponytail, reached her waist, and contrasted with her tanned, smooth skin. Her black tank top and black knee-length skirt were partially concealed by her red sari, which complimented the gold necklace around her neck.

She spoke, as calm as she was before. "My name is Nao Abe. I am a Super High School Lever Predictor. I need to say, both of you have changed your personalities quite drastically since this all unfolded. Ito-san, you fluctuated between three different personalities in a matter of minutes. Pollux-san, you almost choked Ayuki-san, and now you're being perfectly conversational. I don't usually talk this much, but I don't know what's going on."

Chitanda just giggled. "I'm an actress, silly! This is my real personality. The other two were just suited to the scenes, so I used them! After all, maybe if I didn't play a damsel in distess, Pollux-san and Ayuki-san wouldn't have stopped fighting!"

Nao nodded, and turned over to Castor, who shrugged, stuffing his hands in his cargo pants. "Hey, it happens. This guy has given me trouble all my life, I changed a bit for him." He removed one hand to jab a thumb at Mint, who looked bitterly offended.

"Me giving you trouble?! It was you all that time!" The boy shot back. Now, everyone really got a good look at him. He wore a dark cardigan over a long sleeved white shirt. Paired with his black pants and his chestnut coloured messy hair, Mint looked more like a handsome scientist from a crime show than a grouchy high school student. Still, he rolled his eyes, proving that, yes, he was a grumpy guy.

"My name is Mint Ayuki, which you already know." Castor snorted, which got a glare from Mint. "Shut it. I'm a Super High School Level Mangaka."

"Mangaka, hm? That's so cool, Ayuki-senpai!" Chitanda clapped her hands happily. "What types of manga do you create?"

Mint looked a little surprised by this compliment, but he went right back to his grouchy self. "I'm best known for my mysteries and heavy reality-based stories."

"Awesome!" Chitanda kept her adorable smile on. She was noticeably flat chested, even with the flattening effect given by her kimono styled outfit. This and the cheery and cute attitude gave her a loli appearance- a bit strange for a high school student. "Hey, Pollux-senpai, what's a cosmologist? Do you do makeup?"

Castor chuckled, bringing up a hand to his mouth. "No, no, you're thinking about a cosmetologist. A cosmologist studies the origins, evolution and eventual fate of the universe. It's a very broad topic, but we're scientists. Really, we study laws of the universe and apply them to new knowledge to reach a conclusion. Does that make any more sense, Casseopia?"

Chitanda nodded. "A little more-" She paused briefly, looking upwards for a minute before scrunching her lip. "Casseopia?"

Castor smiled. "Casseopia is the name of a constellation. She was a woman in Greek mythology who was more beautiful than even the nymphs. I tend to nickname those around me with constellations they remind me of."

Staying silent for a brief moment, the actress smiled gleefully, squealing a bit. "That's so sweeeet, Pollux-senpai! I'm Casseopia! Give Abe-senpai a name too!"

Chitanda pointed to the predictor, who had been silently sitting and watching them babble. Castor looked her over briefly.

"Hm, we'll call you Indus. It was named by explorers to refer to the people of India, and you're wearing a sari. I think it fits."

Nao smiled a little bit, small, but still there. "Thank you very much." She paused, smile vanishing again. "Something is going to happen."

"What do you mean?" Mint got to his feet, curiously looking at Nao, who was now the only one still sitting.

"I can't get an accurate enough feeling, but I know something surprising is going to happen any moment no-"

And with that, the wall behind Chitanda started buzzing, causing her to squeak and jump away, skirt flouncing up a bit and showing off the tops of her purple-pink stockings. A door, this one disguised better into the wall than the others ahead of it, slid open with a creak.

The empty hallway loomed, the burst of fresh air making them all realize how stuffy their confinement had been. Chitanda cocked her head questioningly at the door.

"Oh, so I guess that was it, Abe-senpai? You're a good predictor, then!" She remarked, peering cautiously out into the dim hall.

Nao shrugged, getting to her feet as her red shoes clicked across the floor. "I suppose. Odd... It felt like it was going to be something bigger. More dangerous."

"Well, good thing that wasn't true!" Castor smiled. "Well, Casseopia, Indus, bastard, ready to go?"

"Hey!" Mint snapped at Castor, and made a move towards the cosmologist, but Nao intercepted the movement by stepping in between both boys.

"I don't recommend any more violence. I think you two should keep your distance for now- whatever happened between you, I don't think this strange place is the time to settle it."

"Great idea, Abe-san!" Castor smiled placidly before glaring at a fuming Mint. "I just hope he won't behave like a savage, as he's done so before."

"Boys, no fighting! It's a waste of your cute faces to bicker!" Chitanda pouted from the other side of the room before smiling and turning. "I'm off, then! Catch me if you can!"

Skipping off, the rose patterned fabric bounced as she disappeared into the hall. Castor laughed a little before following her, Nao right behind him. With a final sigh of annoyance, Mint stuffed his hands in his pants pockets and shuffled out.

I wonder if you're starting to think these rooms never end? Don't worry too much. There's only one room left before the tale of our misguided little high schoolers begins.

Now, as the curtain prepares to open on a life of despair, let's see our final students.

**Well, there you have it! Please review, and I hope to see you all again soon!**


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